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Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress--and a Plan to Stop It (2011)

by Lawrence Lessig

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318981,508 (4.04)3
A Harvard Law professor explains how being influenced by money overshadows the will of the people in the political arena regardless of party lines and offers strategies to take back the democracy from those with moneyed or corporate interests.
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» See also 3 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 9 (next | show all)
Must read for a description of the systemic (NOT personal) corruption destroying American politics. 5 stars for its importance and revelations, 3 for its execution ( )
  emmby | Oct 4, 2023 |
An excellent work on the ultimate problem with American government today: campaign finance. Why can't Congress solve any of our significant problems? Because the members of Congress are constantly pandering to the whims of their campaign contributors and not to the voters. They talk big during election cycles, but when it comes to legislating, all their ideals go out the window. This book does a very good job of describing dependency corruption and how it is different from quid pro quo corruption. Lessig makes an excellent argument about why this is the most important political issue. All of our other problems cannot be resolved with a broken system. We must fix the system first. He discusses the Citizen's United court case and how it effects the issue. And he gives four strategies for effecting change in the system. I wish I could convince more people to read this. ( )
  joshuagomez | May 31, 2019 |
Very thought provoking and insightful look at the role and influence of money in politics, but even further, in our entire political and economic system. The author also has suggestions on handling and solving this problem, but admits that it would be difficult and almost impossible to implement without some severe circumstances to push people into action. I wish I could get everyone to read this. ( )
1 vote billtaiwan | May 21, 2014 |
If you care about the future of this country, you need to read this book. It doesn't matter if you are Independent, Democrat or Republican ( )
  bke | Mar 30, 2014 |
Larry Lessig is one of the best thinkers of our time, and this is another great book that explains the world we live in. His take on "corruption," and how our elections have been altered by private money is a cogent argument for why we think all of our politicians are untrustworthy. ( )
  thebradking | Feb 22, 2014 |
Showing 1-5 of 9 (next | show all)
Mr. Lessig’s analysis of the distorting effects of money is, in the main, dead on. The problems with “Republic, Lost” lie elsewhere. While he insists, again quoting Thoreau, that to hack at the “branches of evil” is futile, campaign finance reform is, in itself, arguably an inadequate ax.
 
"So his focus is not so much on the solutions, but on the first step: laying down the argument for why change needs to happen. Seventy-five percent of the book is a deep examination of the problem of corruption: what corruption means (from an almost philosophical perspective); the specifics of how corruption operates in our particular system; and an analysis of how our government will continue to fail us, given the present system."
 
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A Harvard Law professor explains how being influenced by money overshadows the will of the people in the political arena regardless of party lines and offers strategies to take back the democracy from those with moneyed or corporate interests.

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